Rep. Long calls YouTube “un-American” after it removes his Senate campaign ad with false election claims

Politics

Rep. Long calls YouTube ‘un-American’ after it removes his Senate campaign ad with false election claims

Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) speaks with reporters outside the West Wing of the White House in Washington after a meeting with President Donald Trump on health-care reform in May 2017. (Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post)

By John Wagner and Mariana Alfaro
Today at 8:46 a.m. EST

Rep. Billy Long (R-Mo.) is accusing YouTube of being “un-American” for removing an ad for his Senate campaign in which he falsely claims Democrats “rigged” the 2020 election, echoing the baseless and debunked claims of former president Donald Trump.

“This behavior by YouTube is un-American and straight from the communist playbook,” Long said in a statement Thursday. “Removing my ad proves my point that Big Tech certainly has and will continue to influence elections.”

In the pulled video, Long says he is running for the Senate “to stop the insanity, stop the wokeness, and stop the Democrats from stealing another election.” At another point, he refers to President Biden and Democrats as “far-left crazies.” ... There is no evidence of widespread fraud in the 2020 election.

Long, who has represented Missouri’s 7th Congressional District since 2011, also touts his connections to Trump in his campaign ad, saying he was “one of the first” public officials to support Trump’s 2016 presidential campaign.

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By John Wagner
John Wagner is a national reporter on The Post's new breaking political news team. He previously covered the Trump White House. During the 2016 presidential election, he focused on the Democratic campaigns of Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley. He also chronicled Maryland government for more than a decade. Twitter https://twitter.com/WPJohnWagner

By Mariana Alfaro
Mariana Alfaro is a reporter for The Washington Post's breaking political news team. The El Salvador native joined The Post in 2019 as a researcher for the Daily 202, our flagship politics newsletter. Before that, Mariana interned at the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Insider, and The Texas Tribune. Twitter https://twitter.com/marianaa_alfaro